Found this story rather interesting. Won’t apply to us here in the USA (AZ could be a candidate tho) since it’s an Eastern Asia product, but shows how candy science marches on! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/non-melting-chocolate_n_2192236.html

All you chocoholics who work with bulk chocolate know that getting the blocks broken down into easily melted chunks can be problematic. I was fortunate in that when I first started taking classes in truffle making from Alice Medrich, of Cocolat fame, I was living in San Francisco where there are a lot of antigue [...]

I came to using candy thermometers late in life. So many recipes just gave visual instructions (candy should form firm ball when placed into water) that it was possible to complete the recipe without that tool . However, it became obvious that successes were more the result of luck than skill in deciphering recipes. So, [...]

Breaking up bulk chocolate can be a pain and time consuming, even with a good tool (see photo below). A better way to deal with chocolate that needs to be melted is to get it in pastilles form – small, thin “buttons” of chocolate, milk or dark, which melt quickly and evenly, regardless of your [...]